[∀] Just finished Turn A [Possible spoilers]

[Shiemi]

Originally Posted by GX9900_NTlv9

I think Loora is the best-looking female character...

That's a bit disturbing.

I actually watched this series completely while GSD was airing and I have to honestly say that I loved this series so much that I started hesitating on watching GSD episodes whenever one aired. I preferred going over episodes of Turn-A rather than watching GSD. At least in my case it's my favorite Gundam series right now, although I haven't watched every gundam series made. I do plan to do so at some point, but in the meantime, Turn-A is my number 1.

[W-General]

Actually, that's what I did too.

Towards the last few episodes of Destiny, I felt it was such a waste of time - time that could be spent watching Turn A, so I ended up just reading summaries and looking at screenshots whenever the new Destiny came out...

[NaOH]

its a shame that TURN A wasn't as popular as GSD, cus GSD is just living on hype.. while Turn A is the real deal

[HEDGESMFG]

While not to keep repeating myself, then spread the word! That's why I did this entire project in the first place. Turn-A 'is' the real deal and should get some more of the recognition it deserves. Tell other people about it and show it to them. Increase the fanbase and give Destiny a little bit of competition. ;P Yoshiyuki Tomino's masterpiece should be given a fair chance.

[Blaat]

I don't have any luck convincing people Turn A is the greatest either:

a. they hate mecha
b. Hate Tomino.

yeah doesn't help much

[NaOH]

Originally Posted by HEDGESMFG

While not to keep repeating myself, then spread the word! That's why I did this entire project in the first place. Turn-A 'is' the real deal and should get some more of the recognition it deserves. Tell other people about it and show it to them. Increase the fanbase and give Destiny a little bit of competition. ;P Yoshiyuki Tomino's masterpiece should be given a fair chance.

well from wat i know about hyping.... first u gotta fill the forums with TURN A, and you gotta make the media available.. "cough" seeds "cough"

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by HEDGESMFG

Increase the fanbase and give Destiny a little bit of competition. ;P Yoshiyuki Tomino's masterpiece should be given a fair chance.

If you want to increase the presence of Turn A, you should try to create a few more Turn A threads. By doing so, maybe you will increase the interest in the show itself. Of course, given that about 75% of all the threads in this forum are about Destiny, it's probably an uphill struggle, but at least it'll be better than nothing.

[GX9900_NTlv9]

The problem is not many people are into older gundam series, and even if they do, they wouldn't like the fact that Turn A focused more on story than action, and no one would like the moustache

[4Tran]

I'm not really a Gundam fan, so I'm probably not a very good judge of this, but here's my two cents. Turn A isn't really that old; it aired in 1999, so it's actually newer than Gundam Wing, which a lot of people seem to like. Turn A's animation also seems quite good; it's not too flashy, but it is very solid (I wish the newer Gundam shows would emulate the nonflashy aspect more).

The moustache is a bit of a hurdle, but once a viewer gets past the initial shock, it should become a nonissue. The biggest problem is that, in the first half, Turn A is more of a drama than it is an action show. I think that most fans would instinctively prefer the second, more action-filled half to the slower-paced first half. This might well explain why Turn A wasn't very successful during its original broadcast; it simply tuned out too many action fans. Of course, if a viewer were willing to be patient though, I think that he would quickly find out that the first half is some of the best drama to be found in all of Gundam. I most certainly did.

[GX9900_NTlv9]

Yeah, true, one of the better stories of gundam out there. (compared to the likes of the AU series) The plot was well thought, the problem is few people would take the trouble to get past the initial part which is mostly about the setting rather than the gundam itself. I myself almost wanted to stop watching after several episodes of the worshipping... The general audience for this type of anime would be the older category (16 and older). Considering the lack of humor and variety of gundams, I don't think anyone younger would appreciate this film.

[cheesie]

The continuous pimping of this show convinced me to hunt this series down. :P I'm always up for drama and action (prolly why I was hooked with both arcs of Rose of Versailles) so, although mecha isn't my thing, that isn't enough to steer me away from a good story.

[HazardNights]

You won't be disappointed crisis.

[demon_god04]

Im willing to bet that if the Turn A was a bit more aseptically pleasing it would have had a larger fanbase. I admit that I havent seen Turn A until recently even though over the last few years I had ample chances, simply because the Turn A's design weirds me out I probly wouldnt have picked it up if it wasnt from reading on these boards how good it was

[W-General]

Ah yes, demongod, I'm with you there. I still remember 2 years back looking on MAHQ, "Turn A" and thinking "What's this" and I click "ZOMG MOUSTACHE I'M NOT WATCHING THIS"

It took me two years to change.

Although I like some flashy stuff, for me, it's the character interactions that mattered the most. So when I watched the first few episodes of Turn A, it was like, wow, this is what I need. I tuned out of Destiny and into Turn A.

crisis, Turn A is highly recommended. You won't be disappointed if you're looking for some drama.


Actually, I thought there's a great lot of good humor in this series....like the Turn A cattle herder, Turn A laundromat....and there's that episode "OH NOES MY HEAD!" when Loran's trying to catch the Turn A's head. Now that's funny.

True that there isn't a lot of variety in the mechs....or Gundams for that matter. But at least there's Turn X, which is totally ass kicking.

I think Turn A's doing pretty good. It's getting a lot more exposure than before (probably from people disappointed with Destiny trying to find a real Gundam show)...just take a look at the Rank the Gundam Series thread. Turn A is actually second....although it lags quite a bit behind SEED, it beats Zeta, which was considered the hardcore Gundam series.

[NaOH]

aside from the story, the musics in Turn A are epic!! gotta love Aki Okui - Tsuki no Mayu, aka "Moon"

[W-General]

Of course. It's Yoko Kanno

[Blaat]

Turn A has IMO the best soundtrack out of all Gundams. I'm not talking about the songs like Tsuki no Mayu but the BGM, the songs you hear during fight scenes, the preview, the talk scenes etc.

Anyway Turn X rocks B) My favourite bad guy suit, that thing has shining finger, psycommu system and is one giant funnel I wished there was more Turn X action

[HEDGESMFG]

Well, for those who comment that Turn-A isn't an action show, take a look at SEED and Destiny. Often, those series would have entire episodes where they don't feature any fighting, probably more often than Turn-A! Yet, they've still succeeded with the action show crowd. In addition, some of the action in the SEED shows (Particularly Destiny's latter quarter) is repetitive and somewhat overdone and it doesn't take a 16 year old to see that.

At heart, the biggest obstacle in Turn-A's fanbase has been the fact that few people knew it's good qualities. Most people figured that it had an ugly Gundam and a weird background setting and completely avoided it... or they figured that the 'slower pace' of the show didn't justify viewing beyond the first 10 episodes, when those episodes set up the entire plot for a faster pace. But the biggest issue was that people simply had no access to a decent English translation of the whole show! I had to have a friend inform me of it's goodness before I even bothered to check it out myself (However, I was open to it from the start since I wanted to see all Gundam series.)

The good news is that the general consensus about it has changed. While every other Gundam series still gets it's fair share of vocal criticism (as well as love, of course), most of the conversation about Turn-A since people began actually watching it has been overwhealmingly positive. While Destiny, even with it's large internet viewership, still recieved mixed reviews (Especially here).

Honestly, people have every right to like and dislike what they wish... but I keep plugging this series becuase it still hasn't fully gained it's chance yet. It's capable of appealing to a wider audience than the average Gundam series is if people know more about it. It's also a bit quirky (Laura Rola, the Red Team, the entire setting), but once you get beyond that, it's an excellent show. I say this all as a fan of lots of different Gundam shows (0079, Zeta, ZZ, V, G, X, SEED, ect.) as well, and lots of different anime, not just Turn-A.

[wingdarkness]

That's what makes me scratch my head...Turn A has lots of action...It might not be per say actual Gundams fighting, but action is action...(Other than the first 10-15 episodes when the story and world is being set) I never had the feeling while watching that there isn't enuff action...There's action nearly every episode if not every other episode...From the time Loren and company search for the Zaergtracker (sp?) until the end of the series there is action all the time...

----------------------
One thing about Turn A that is so brilliant is the way Tomino mix-matches or redefines cultural aspects based on time progression...I always found the arc where they search for the mass driver in the tribal grounds great...It was like Tomino mixed the cultural aspects of Indians (or Native Amerians) with Egyptian historical elements...You have these people who seem Indian, but they have pyrimids, and underground maze-ways like Egyptians...also fight with swords in front of former kings like Egytians...It's like a cultural smattering that could likley take place given the thousands of years of hiatus on Earth...It just seems almost logical the way he presents the world...and when you already have countless shows under your belt it has to be tuff to re-create a fresh scenerio (especially in the context of your own Gundam franchise)...

[4Tran]

wingdarkness, what you said is pretty much true for every single Gundam show until Seed. I may be wrong, but I think that there's either an action sequence or combat in every single episode of these Gundam shows except for recap episodes and episode 1 of Turn A. In fact, a lot of those episodes had action sequences even where one wasn't really needed, or where one would interrupt the flow of the storyline.

However, even with action sequences tacked on, the early part of Turn A is strictly drama-oriented. The pacing and the themes tend to tone the action down by quite a bit. Of course, this fits my tastes pretty well, so I enjoyed it immensely. I felt that it was a bit of a shame that it became more of an action show in the last half.

The point that you make about the cultural elements is quite good. However, I don't think that the execution was completely successful. The best part was actually the pseudo-Turn of the Century feel of CC North America. I think that Turn A capture the mood and the (romanticised) optimism of the period very well. It was a real breath of fresh air compared to regular Gundam shows.